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Episode 602: These Emails Are Marked As Important
Date January 21, 2015 Summary Ben and Sam banter about their favorite regular-season games, then answer listener emails about player relocation, bidding for top prospects, transaction crowdsourcing, and more. Topics * Relocating players to new teams * Episode 473 follow-up: Best players without MVP votes or All-Star selections * Value of holding back young stars * Bidding for top prospects * 1 plate appearance careers * Using public opinion to inform transactions Intro Ryan Adams, "Nuclear" Banter * Favorite ever regular season games * It is Matt Albers' 32nd birthday Email Questions * Francis (New York, NY): "Now that Ben Zobrist has fulfilled his destiny and become an Athletic, what player would you move to a new team and why? Here are my three examples. A selfish one, as a Yankees fan I'd make Mike Trout the club's latest famed center fielder. A funny one, I'd stick Joey Votto on the Royals to watch people freak out as the team tried to get him to cut down on his walks and homers in the name of turning him into a singles hitting run producer. And a purist one, I'd put DJ LeMahieu on the Braves to see him make sweet baseball music with Andrelton Simmons. I am sure you guys can come up with some better ones." * Kenny: "I remember a while back Sam delved into who was the best player to never make an All-Star team or receive MVP votes and if I remember he settled on Nick Markakis as a clear #1. However I'm struggling to remember if there were any other parameters for this title. The other day read that AJ Burnett has never been an All-Star which came as a slight surprise to me, possibly due to his high profile as a multiple time World Series winner and a former Yankee. In addition to the All-Star game snubs further research indicates that not only has he never received any MVP votes, he has never received any Cy Young votes either. Therefore barring any other parameters I might be forgetting, I would like to nominate AJ Burnett and his 38.5 and counting fWAR as the best player to never make an All-Star game or receive any major award votes. Sidenote, in case only position players are eligible for this imaginary yet awesome title, David DeJesus is sitting at 24.7 fWAR which is a rounding error more than Markakis." * Robert: "If the Nationals were to heed Sam's advice and trade Stephen Strasburg wouldn't that shed a different light, not in a good way, on their decision to hold him out of the postseason a couple of years ago? Surely looking back they'd wished they'd not chosen to save his arm, no? Sure they can defend the decision in regard to his health in the immediate years following but at the time they made it sound as if they were sacrificing one postseason for a career. Given the landscape now in which even rich teams are willing to Billy Beane their rosters and trade stars a year or two before their contracts expire and no one is ultimately untouchable, perhaps we won't see another team hold out a young star again. What do you think?" * Troy: "On Tuesday's show about the prospect of trading Stephen Strasburg Sam said something I've heard a number of people say, "Strasburg could be traded for any prospect." Taking a break from a debate over the wisdom of trading Strasburg this has merged with a recent Effectively Wild question/trope to form a new question in my head. Suppose for a moment that MLB introduced a golden ticket, available for one team to buy that could be redeemed at any point for their choice of prospect from another team's system. The ticket would be awarded to the highest bidder and they could use it in any year to effectively kidnap any player from any franchise who had not yet accrued Major League service time. How much do you think a team would be willing to pay for a golden prospect ticket, and how much do you think it would actually be worth to a franchise?" * Cody: "Several times a year, though less frequently since the Phillies win cycle turned, there is a trade or signing to which the unwashed masses are nearly unanimously opposed. Whether in terms of dollars or players given up, the cost is considered exorbitant. Could a GM float rumors of an impending deal to gauge public reaction? How bad would the public be at this? Is there any value in doing this?" Play Index * Sam looks up information about players who had very small numbers of career plate appearances. * There are 134 players since 1910, excluding pitchers, who have 1 career plate appearance. They collectively hit .130/.195/.162. * Players with 2 career plate appearances (98 players) hit .152/.209/.195. * None of the players with 1 or 2 career PA ever hit a home run. Notes * Sam says that his favorite regular season game ever was the 1993 San Francisco Giants home opener. Ben mentions Mike Mussina's almost perfect game that was broken up with 1 strike left in addition to the games at the end of the 2011 season. * Ben would want to see Giancarlo Stanton play at Coors Field. Sam wants to see Alex Rodriguez back in Seattle. * Robert's question is based off a discussion from Episode 601. * According to Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight the expected value of a top prospect is about 17 WAR. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 602: These Emails Are Marked As Important * The Rockies and Real Home Run Hitters by Sam Miller * Harper, Trout, and Moore: Free Agents? by Kevin Goldstein Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes